Spider-Man Goes Samurai With Tamashii Nations’ Manga Realization Line

Over the past year or so, Tamashii Nations' Movie Realization series for Star Wars stormed onto shelves and became one of the most sought-after lines in the collecting community. While the standard Star Wars figures will always suffice, Tamashii's bold interpretations took the brand back to its own inspirations, and gave us some of the most unique Star Wars toys ever. Now the Japanese company is turning its eye to comics, and putting heroes like Spider-Man through the same feudal era lens.

The Star Wars figures were a big design success thanks in large to the work of Takayuki Takeya, who oversaw the conceptualization of the series. He's back again for the Manga Realization line, but there's just something not quite as impressive with Spider-Man's style compared to the previous figures. That's not to say it's not an impressive work, but it doesn't translate as nicely to the time period as the Stormtroopers or Darth Vader did.

I can't quite put my finger on one specific element of the Samurai Spider-Man that gives off that vibe, but the helm certainly doesn't do this figure any favors. Applying all that linework to the oni mask makes it look a little too busy, and it looks more like a weird catcher's mask than it does something a samurai would wear. I know the red and blue Spidey suit is tried-and-true, but perhaps for this instance, it would have made for a better visual aesthetic to go with the symbiote costume. At least with something so dramatically simple, you could really focus on the armor style and fabrication versus trying to turn all that webbing into a one-to-one look.

Spider-Man comes with two blades, a few sets of hands (including "thwipping" hands), and a grappling hook and line. There's not a crazy amount of articulation in there, but Tamashii has included enough to get Spider-Man in some fun poses. Until more Manga Realization figures arrive, he'll have to make do battling with just the Star Wars figures. Considering the number of Marvel figures Tamashii has released already, it wouldn't be out of the question to see an Iron Man or Hulk make their way to the series eventually. Nothing is confirmed or planned of course, but we can hope Takayuki Takeya has something cool in store for what's to come.

The Manga Realization Spider-Man will be available this August in Japan, with a US release likely to follow close behind. Star Wars Realization figures ran for around $90 each when they released here, so expect to pay as much of a premium for Spidey when he arrives.